Two was in a bad mood for the next few hours. Everyone else eventually started picking up on it, and, sure enough, they started growing into Two's bad mood. Eventually, everyone was angry with each other. It was the quietest MePhone has ever heard it. He even tried talking to Black Hole, but even he didn't respond. Fanny didn't tell anyone she hated anything and Donut, well, he seemed down as well, although it looked like it was his mood plus Two's that was affecting him. No one wanted to talk to Pencil, and she was fine with it, at least, MePhone thinks she is. She did kind of explode at everyone a couple hours ago, and never apologized.
Eventually, after about three hours, Two decided he didn't want to be outside anymore and locked himself in his bedroom. MePhone left him alone for a while, before that nagging feeling in the back of his mind came back. The hole he wanted to escape. The deep, relentless hole in the back of his mind.
MePhone couldn't take the silence, and the terrible, heavy feeling, so he went to go talk to Two. If Two can make him feel better, then why couldn't he make Two feel better?
MePhone knocked on Two's door, with a confidence he hadn't had before. Two ought to answer that knock, right? He was wrong. He didn't. There was nothing but silence in the room. Silence that became louder and louder and almost unbearable. "Two?" MePhone asked. "Are you in there?"
There was another silence. This is unlike Two. Two would never just not answer someone. In fact, Two is usually the first to answer. So this...this is strange. And definitely not comforting in any way whatsoever. MePhone was just starting to feel like himself again, and now he has to help Two.
How do you comfort someone? How do you comfort anyone? How do you comfort Two? MePhone never had to comfort anyone in his life. He's always had people comforting him. So, he's not quite sure how to do it. He knows how it feels, so...maybe if he can give that same feeling back to Two, then things would be better.
He was wrong...again. He's tried talking to Two. He even tried just sitting outside Two's door. Four had told him to move so he just lied down. Four didn't appreciate it much, but he stepped over him anyway, extending his legs.
MePhone even refused to move away from the door, that he brought his light out and slept outside his door.
It's been three days. The mood in the air grew thicker and heavier than before and no one even seemed to want to look at each other. Everyone kept their distance from Pencil, and that started making her angrier. The only words that were said were said in whispers, and it was always kept brief. MePhone couldn't take any more of this. The feeling nagging at him kept growing and growing, and he wanted it to go away. He wanted his pain to go away. He didn't want to see Cobs in his head, he didn't want to hear him, and he didn't even want to remember him. All this heavy depression and anger in the air kept making it worse. He had to stop it.
MePhone stood. He knocked on Two's door, just to let him know he was still there. He's been handing him his meals from under the door. Sometimes he'd return after his and see and empty plate with whatever cutlery they had outside the door again.
MePhone waited for a second to see if Two would respond, and when he didn't he went back into his room, put the light on the table, still lit, and walked out. He heard shouting in the kitchen, so he went in there first.
"What's going on in here?" MePhone asked. No one noticed him walk in and all continued to yell at each other. Pencil was the loudest, but everyone was trying to yell over her. MePhone cleared his throat. "What is going on in here?" MePhone cried, but they still didn't hear.
This is it. The problem. The reason why Two was still around. Everyone won't stop fighting. MePhone put his hands on his head. He doesn't want to hear it. He doesn't want to hear any of it. Suitcase asking him why she's like that, Knife yelling at him, probably because he can, Trophy yelling at him because he can, Marsh and Microphone yelling at him on why they are the way he made them. His entire cast, yelling at him, asking him questions on why he made them the way they are. Why they have these flaws. Why he created them.
MePhone's volume went up automatically, nearly all the way full. "ENOUGH!" he yelled, his voice louder than before. The entire cast stared at him. Some are sad, others are angry. MePhone turned his volume down. "I...can't take this anymore!" he yelled. "We need to change this! We need to fix ourselves instead of just...moping around! Look at yourselves!" He put his hands up at the contestants, which prompted them to start looking around at each other.
"Why are you like this? Why do you have to fight over everything?" MePhone asked. Pencil put her hand up and opened her mouth. "No, I'm not done talking!" MePhone interrupted, pointing at her. She looked down and crossed her arms.
"Why do we have to fight? Yeah, we're all upset, but do we really need to take it out on each other?" There came a long silence. MePhone sighed and rubbed his eyes with his fingers. "We are going to make Two feel better. And you're all going to help, whether you want to or not."
Everyone's eyes went to Pencil. "What?" she cried.
"We're all making him feel better and I don't want any questions asked, got it?" There was a silence. "What are we doing then?" Black Hole asked from outside the window. MePhone paused. Two likes a lot of things. But this one needs to be special. Extremely special. Cake. He likes cake. He loves cake. He loves cheesecake.
"We'll make him a cheesecake," MePhone replied.
"That should make up for the time Eraser broke glass in it," Pen replied. MePhone stared at him but decided to say nothing. "Split into teams," MePhone said. "You guys chose. Team captains are in charge."
The teams split up and began discussing with each other. The teams were silent until Donut and Golf Ball started yelling at each other. Then everyone else joined in and started yelling at each other. MePhone tried to ignore it. They'll work it out. They have to. There's no other choice. Two needs them. Two needs all of them. They're going to figure something out.
There was a full five minutes of yelling, Pencil again trying to be the loudest, until Golf Ball started yelling at her about the instance from a couple of days ago. Then the rest of Team CloudYay joined in and started yelling at her. The other teams yelled within themselves on who should be captain.
MePhone vibrated. The yelling. It won't stop. Cobs used to yell at him when he didn't do what Cobs wanted. His yelling nagged at him. 'You can't do anything right, can you, 4? I asked for you to do one thing, and what do you do? You fall asleep! Maybe I'll just dismantle you and use your pieces for something better! Something more convenient!"
MePhone turned around and slammed the window shut. The glass shattered. Everyone flinched, jumped and yelped at the motion. Thankfully, Black Hole was safe from the glass, as he just sucked it up. "I don't like this any more than you do, but can't you just work together? For TWO. HOURS?" MePhone yelled.
They started yelling at him now. Just like his contestants. The only way they would stop yelling is if he hosted. But...he just stopped hosting. He's not ready. He...can't do this. But...there's no choice. He has to. For Two.
"ENOUGH! ALL OF YOU!" MePhone yelled. "I have HAD IT! I am tired of all your yelling! I'm hosting now! You listen to me!"
For once, there was silence. MePhone would like to be relieved but the adrenaline and anger running through his body prohibited him. "We're making a cheesecake!" MePhone continued, his voice still raised, but quieter. "CloudYay, who's your captain?"
"I am!" Golf Ball replied.
"I thought I was!" Donut yelled. The team started yelling again. "I'll pick the captain!" MePhone yelled over them. He pulled out a yellow apron and threw it at Golf Ball. "Captains wear these aprons," he said, pulling out more. CloudYay's apron is yellow. Team 2 is Green, BAGGED is pink and Death PACT is blue. "Tennis Ball," MePhone said, tossing him the pink apron. "Pin." He tossed Death PACT the blue one, Pin catching it. "And Book."
"Me?" Book asked. "Why?"
MePhone ignored her question and continued. "CloudYay, you're making the decorations. Death PACT, you're doing the cake. Team 2, you're in charge of making it look nice. BAFFED, you're in charge of making sure the cake gets fully decorated and cooked, and you're keeping it in the freezer until it's ready. Basically, you're keeping it cool and supervising the other teams," he put his hand up, "ONCE THEY'RE DONE. Everyone got that?"
There was no time to answer before MePhone continued. "Good. You have three hours. Starting now." MePhone pulled up a time on his face, and set it for three hours. Death PACT immediately got to work by pulling up a cheesecake recipe. No one knew how to make it. They'd be experimenting. And, to be on the safe side, Pin suggested making two of them.
MePhone buzzed and vibrated. "Times up," he said, turning off the timer. "How did you guys do?"
"I like to think we did well," Pin said in a staccato voice. Tennis Ball pulled the cakes out of the freezer and put them on the counter for MePhone to see. They're both decorated the same. The cakes are green, with a flower decor around the side, done perfectly in buttercream frosting, marbled in green and white, along the top and bottom edge. The center of each has a carefully made flower from the same frosting.
"Did you guys taste it?" MePhone asked Death PACT.
"Yes, we did actually," Tree replied.
"We hadn't since we finished," Marker said. MePhone turned to look at Black Hole.
"It's true, I saw them taste it while they were mixing it," he replied. MePhone turned back around, picked up the sloppier cake, the second one on his right side, and turned back around, to show it to Black Hole. "Oh, wow, it looks incredible."
"You see this?" MePhone asked. "This is what you can do when you work together." He pointed at the cake in his hand. "This is why we need to stop fighting. You're all friends. Act like it."
The teams glanced around nervously at each other. Most of them had guilt in their expressions. The rest of them had sadness. Except for Pencil, who was still angry. MePhone put the sloppier one back down, after apologizing to Black Hole for slamming the window in his face earlier, then sliced into it.
The inside is marbled in green and white, just like the frosting, with another layer with a hidden layer of strawberries. MePhone had to admit, even though this one is sloppier, it still looks beautiful. MePhone showed the inside of the cake to them while he put the slice he cut onto a plate.
MePhone grabbed a strange looking fork, which looks more like a pitchfork than a fork, and pushed it into the cake. While everyone was distracted on the inside of the cake. MePhone was actually kind of excited to taste it. It looked marvelous, and when they actually work together, less fighting ensues. Besides, he's only ever had one cheesecake, and he thought it'd be wonderful to have another.
MePhone put the fork into his mouth and, even though he hated to admit it, it tasted marvelous. MePhone put the fork back onto the plate and pulled up a loading symbol on his screen. The contestants stared at him.
A row with their team names appeared on his face, in no particular order. A small colored block appeared next to each one, all of them the same length. "The total scores, out of fifteen, are..." MePhone began, still holding his cake. Death PACT's bar went up first, ending just short of the edge of the screen. "Death PACT, at thirteen points for the cake." CloudYay's bar began to rise, all the way to the edge of his screen. "CloudYay, a total of fifteen points for decoration." Team 2's bar rose, also to the top. "Team 2, a total of fifteen points for efficiency." BAGGED's points rose as well, stopping just short of Death PACT. "BEFFEG, a total of twelve points for supervision."
MePhone's face returned. "So...CloudYay and Team 2 won?" Pen asked.
"There is no winner," MePhone said. "This isn't about winning. Look at yourselves," MePhone ran his hand through the contestants, slowly, including Black Hole. "You guys can work together. You just need to know how. Fighting isn't going to help you."
"So...we lost?" Pencil asked.
"I just said-!" MePhone inhaled, then rubbed his eyes with his hand. "I just said there's no winner, Pencil. No one lost, no one won. This was a lesson to you. And, to finish the challenge, you guys will take this cake," he pointed at the one that looked nice, and un-chopped, "to Two's room. I'll get him out."
Eventually, they all complied, even Pencil, but she refused to be near Two and insisted on staying in the back. MePhone told everyone to take a step back from the door, then proceeded to knock on it. "Two?" he asked. "I know you're in there. It's been three days."
Still no answer. MePhone sighed. "Look, Two, we got you something and if you want to see it, you have to come out here."
"I don't want to," Two quiet voice finally responded. Some people outside looked excited to hear Two's voice again, but MePhone told them to keep quiet. "Well, it is going to go to waste, maybe Four will eat it, if you don't come out here."
"I'm not coming out," Two said. "I...I can't."
"Sure you can," MePhone said. "Let me help you like you helped me."
There came a long silence from the other side of the door before there was a small click next to them. MePhone motioned everyone to move out of the way, then stood in front of the door. "Why?" Two asked.
"Why what?" MePhone asked, looking through the crack of the door Two opened.
"Why do you want to help me? I...I did...I wasn't..."
"I did bad things," MePhone replied. "I wasn't there to help my contestants, but you can be different. I want to help you, Two, like how you helped me. And we can't help you in there."
Two looked at him. "We?" he asked. MePhone smiled. "Yeah, we. If you open your door, you can see."
Two closed the door. It took a while for him to reopen, that everyone was starting to lose hope. He did open the door, all the way, to see all his contestants, including MePhone, standing outside his door. Tennis Ball has a cake on his head, a nicely colored green and white marbled cake, and one object on each team has a team colored apron.
"Surprise!" they all exclaimed, including MePhone, and Black Hole, floating outside the window.
"W-what?" Two asked. He looked as if he'd been crying.
"They're all here for you, Two," MePhone said, smiling.
"We made you a cheesecake!" Pin cheered. Liy took it off of Tennis Ball's head and handed it to Two. MePhone leaned in closer. "It tastes wonderful by the way," he said, winking. He moved back out again.
"But..." Two said, looking at the cheesecake in his hands, then at his contestants. "But...why?"
"No one deserves to be sad alone," Donut said.
"Let us be sad with you," Price Tag agreed.
"You've helped us so much-" Black Hole said.
"It was time we returned the favor," Fanny finished. She still has a scowl on her face, but she's not angry.
"MePhone hosted," Marker added.
Two looked at MePhone. "Y-you did?" he asked. MePhone rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, I did. I wasn't exactly ready, but...I did it." MePhone awkwardly chuckled.
"And he was great," Snowball replied, throwing a fist into the air. "He broke a window!"
"Uh, I'll fix it," MePhone said.
Two looked back down at the cheesecake again. They made a cheesecake. For him. MePhone led, and they all worked together. Two's hands started shaking. There was a small whimper from him, before he looked up with tear filled eyes. "I love you guys!" he cried. He put the cheesecake on the ground and started hugging his contestants, including MePhone, by extending his arms and hugging each one of them.
Eventually, everyone left, in a much better mood than before. "Hey, if you need to talk..." MePhone started, "I'll listen to you too. After all, I figured I'd return the favor." Two giggled. "Thanks," he said, wiping his eyes. "Now I know how you feel, kind of."
"Yeah, but it feels great to be loved," MePhone replied.
"Yeah, it does," Two agreed.
Author's Note
Last one for a while! Until I think of another or until TPOT 16 comes out, whichever comes first! I know not a lot of you are reading this at the moment, but I do appreciate you! I hope you enjoyed and excited for more! ;)
